Still holding my face, he leaned forward and softly pressed his lips against mine. There was no hidden intent with that kiss; it was just that, a kiss. Neither of us was in a hurry to break it.
I wanted this; I wanted him, and I needed to tell him. He just laid it all out for me. He needed to know how I felt too.
I pulled back but didn’t let go of his hands. “Brody, I’m scarred. Zach did so much damage to my heart, sometimes I feel like he ruined it for anyone else. He mutilated it and even though I put it back together, it’ll always be a little tainted.”
“I know, but that’s the thing about scars, Kacie, over time they fade and get smaller. It’s time for yours to disappear.”
The thought of Brody being mine forever forced a small smile to tug at my lips.
“Talk to me … what are you thinking?” He rubbed the back of my hand with his thumbs.
I took a deep breath. “I’m thinking that I love you, Brody Murphy. I love you a lot.”
A grin slid across his face as he pressed his forehead against mine.
“I’ve loved you since you first called my girls twinkies, then I fell in love with you again when you made me jump in puddles with you, then I fell in love with you again when you went fishing with Fred, then I fell in love with you again when you bought twenty kinds of shampoo, then I fell in love with you again in your bed, then I fell in love with you again when you let the girls paint your nails, then I fell in love with you again with a pair of hospital slippers in my hands.” I sniffed and looked into his eyes.
He opened his mouth to respond, but I put my finger on his lips, stopping him.
“My heart knew I loved you before my brain did.”
That was all he needed to hear. He leapt forward and crashed into me with so much force, he knocked me backwards on my bed. The weight of his body was heavy on top of me, but there was nowhere else on this planet I’d rather be.
He pulled back just enough to look me in the eye. “I love you, Kacie. I love you so damn hard.”
“I love you too, Brody. Completely.”
We lay on my bed, lost in each other and completely oblivious to the world happening outside of my room. We kissed and hugged each other so tight; afraid of what would happen when we let go.
“We should probably go out there and see what’s going on with everyone.” I finally sighed.
“Screw that, we have a couple weeks worth of kissing to make up for.”
The laugh that escaped me almost drowned out the sound of the soft knock on my bedroom door.
Brody and I sat up, “Come in,” I called out, rubbing my tingling lips.
Lucy and Piper came barreling through the door with the biggest smiles I’d ever seen on their faces.
“Mom, come see our cake!” Lucy squealed.
“Oh, it’s here? I didn’t know Gigi went to get it,” I said, as Piper grabbed my arm and pulled me off my bed. Lucy took a hold of Brody’s hand and they led us out to the kitchen.
My eyes almost fell out of my head when I saw the cake sitting perfectly in the middle of the island. It was the princess cake that Brody and I saw in the book at The Great Cakery.
“What the … how did Mom…” I was thoroughly confused.
“I asked your mom to let me handle the cake,” Brody said from behind me.
I spun around to face him. “You did this?”
He grinned and nodded, wiggling his eyebrows at me. “Cool, huh? I just hope my twinkies like Oreo cake because I couldn’t resist.”
I smiled as Lucy and Piper ran over and wrapped their arms around him.
“This is so awesome, Brody. Thank you.” I looked at him with sheer adoration as I walked over to the pantry to make sure we had candles for later, something I’d completely forgot to check before.
I pulled the pantry door open and gasped when I caught my mom and Fred groping each other like a couple of teenagers against the cereal shelf. The girls started to run toward the pantry to see what I was staring at when I slammed the door.
“What was it?” Piper asked with Lucy and Brody standing behind her, just as confused.
“Uh … a really big spider,” I stuttered as my mom walked out of the pantry, smiling like nothing ever happened.
“Gigi, did you kill the spider?” Lucy asked.
“Yes, I got him.” She smiled.
“I bet you did.” I stared at her incredulously before I turned back to Brody. “Can you take them in the family room for a minute while I clean up after that spider?”
Brody frowned, clearly still confused as he led the girls over to the couch and out of ear shot.
I whipped around to Mom, who was grinning at me like a proud teenager. “What’s going on?”
“What do you mean what’s going on? It was pretty obvious, no?” She beamed and walked over to the pantry door and opened it, letting Fred out.
“How long?” I looked back and forth between them.
“Well, you’ve been a little preoccupied lately,” she waved her hand toward the couch where Brody was sitting, “and I’ve been with the girls a lot. Fred was helping me out and … you know, it just happened.” Her gaze met his and they smiled sweetly at each other.